7 Pro Tips for Aspiring Stock Photographers

If you’re a photographer looking for additional ways to make money selling your images, stock photography is an excellent option to consider. After all, everyone from bloggers, to advertisers, to web designers needs a cache of usable images to draw from as needed. Why shouldn’t the images they purchase for their projects be yours?

There’s more to making the most out of your sideline gig as a stock photographer than simply taking stunning images though. It’s also about business know-how, marketing, and smart thinking. Keep the following tips in mind to maximize your profits and take the guesswork out of becoming successful to the greatest extent possible.

If you’re a photographer looking for additional ways to make money selling your images, stock photography is an excellent option to consider. After all, everyone from bloggers, to advertisers, to web designers needs a cache of usable images to draw from as needed. Why shouldn’t the images they purchase for their projects be yours?

There’s more to making the most out of your sideline gig as a stock photographer than simply taking stunning images though. It’s also about business know-how, marketing, and smart thinking. Keep the following tips in mind to maximize your profits and take the guesswork out of becoming successful to the greatest extent possible.

Take care of model releases sooner rather than later.

Lots of stock photographers choose to shoot first and take care of practicalities like model releases some other day. However, w

hile there’s certainly no law against doing things that way, tracking people down after the fact isn’t always as easy as you’d hope. If you can’t do it, you could easily w

ind up unable to use a truly fantastic set of images.

Consider carrying printed model releases in your photography bag so they’re always at the ready when you’re out shooting. (Alternatively, you can keep a model release app installed on your phone.) Then get those releases signed and out of the way before you start shooting.

Consider current demand when deciding what to shoot.

While any photograph could potentially be considered useful by the right person, you’ll make more money if you offer image types that are in high demand. In fact, most stock photographers definitely try to strike a balance between shooting what they’re most passionate about and shooting what’s currently selling like hotcakes.

Make it a point to stay in the know as far as what’s hot in the overall market. Follow blogs and social media accounts that are dedicated to keeping photographers informed as far what’s most in demand. Pay attention to what topics are trending as far as informational articles and other types of written media as well. Writers, bloggers, and publications always need images that are compatible with what they’re currently producing.

Always pay attention to keywording.

Taking photographs that people are looking to buy is only part of the equation when it comes to developing a solid income stream via stock photography. You also need to make sure those looking for your images are able to find them easily, so proper keywording should be a huge priority.

The trick to choosing keywords that deliver is to think like a potential buyer. The actual subject matter of a given photograph is only part of what someone could be looking for. What emotions, traits, or situations could also be expressed by that image? Think about how you can translate those into solid keywords.

Also, while it’s important to make sure you include enough keywords, you need to make them count. Experts recommend choosing between 20 and 25 for best results, but they have to be relevant. Including too many options that seem spammy in nature could actually hurt your photos instead of help.